Three soldiers died in Afghan mosque blasts, inquest told

Captain Mark Hale and Rifleman Daniel Wild, both from 2nd Battalion, the Rifles, died in a blast in Helmand province last year as they tried to evacuate Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton, 23, a colleague injured in an explosion just minutes earlier.

The deaths came during one of the bloodiest periods for British troops since the mission began in October 2001, as operations were stepped up ahead of presidential and provincial council elections in August last year.

All three were part of a "cordon" set up to provide back-up while members of the Afghan National Army went into the mosque in Sangin on August 13.

The patrol was then to engage with the local community to inform them of the coming elections and to provide security for a pre-election Shura, or meeting of elders.

The mission had been launched on the basis of intelligence that the mosque and nearby compounds had been used for the storage of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

L/Bdr Hatton, of 40th Regiment Royal Artillery, and from Haxby, near York, was attached to a section led by Cpl Adam Newton who were using a compound as a viewpoint to watch over the mosque operation.

But commanding officer Major Karl Hickman ordered the section to move to a closer position as they were too far from the rest of the troops involved in the operation.

Cpl Newton told the inquest at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, that as he led his men down the stairs from the roof, a bomb exploded injuring L/Bdr Hatton and two other men.

He said the compound had been swept for explosives on arrival in the compound but had failed to detect any.

He said: "I was just off the stairs when the first blast went off. I turned around and saw a massive dust cloud, I heard a couple of people screaming, I then knew we had casualties and I ran to the entrance and shouted for a medic."

He said Capt Hale and Rifleman Wild then ran into the compound to help the casualties.

He described how the second explosion went off as they carried L/Bdr Hatton, his arms around their shoulders, out of the compound towards a planned helicopter landing site.

The second explosion killed L/Bdr Hatton and Rifleman Wild while Capt Hale died of his injuries later in hospital.

The inquest heard that the section used Vallon metal detectors to sweep the compound for IEDs prior to entering but at the time the Taliban were starting to use devices containing low levels of metal.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Ridley said the Ministry of Defence was taking steps to counter the new type of IEDs which had low levels of metal to avoid detection by the Army's Vallon metal detectors.

He said the area was "riddled" with such devices.

He added: "This was all at a time when these low level metal devices started appearing in Sangin which makes it very difficult to find with a metal detector."

The inquest heard that the cause of death for Rifleman Wild and L/Bdr Hatton was multiple blast injuries caused by an explosion, while Capt Hale died of haemorrhaging as a result of blast injuries.

Coroner Mr Ripley recorded verdicts of unlawful killing while on active service for all three soldiers. Thanking their colleagues who gave evidence to the inquest, he said: "The 2nd Battalion, the Rifles suffered hugely out in Afghanistan."